Why Jack the Ripper could have been Lizzie Williams

Hair scraped back, wearing a dress so modest it even covered her neck, she is the ultimate respectable Victorian lady — married to the Queen’s own doctor, no less.

But she is also jack the Ripper, according to an expert convinced that all evidence points away from a man being the infamous serial killer...

JACKIE THE RIPPER ‘Ripperologist’ believes Jack the Ripper could have been a woman because of anatomy knowledge, womb mutilation and husband’s affair with fifth victim
All signs point to the East End murderer being Lizzie Williams, wife of the Queen's physician Sir John Williams

Feature
By Amy Jones
20th August 2018
The Sun

HAIR scraped back, wearing a dress so modest it even covered her neck, she is the ultimate respectable Victorian lady — married to the Queen’s own doctor, no less.

But she is also Jack the Ripper, according to an expert convinced that all evidence points away from a man being the infamous serial killer.

Ripperologist claims it was likely to have been a woman

“Ripperologist” John Morris said: “I’m absolutely convinced that these crimes are that of a woman — there’s no doubt in my mind.”

And he believes Lizzie Williams is the obvious suspect, having the motive, equipment and expertise to carry out the five murders in London’s East End in 1888.

For a start, her upright husband, royal physician Sir John Williams, was having an affair with the Ripper’s final victim, Mary Kelly. And his wife, Welsh-born Williams had access to her husband’s surgical knives, had gleaned anatomical knowledge from him and was desperately sad that she had not borne him children.

Three of the five victims, all prostitutes, had their wombs removed, while the first woman to die seemingly suffered attempts to remove it.

Lizzie Williams was unable to have children which makes her a prime suspect according to John Morris

This was in an era when only those with some medical learning even knew where the womb was.

Mary Kelly’s mutilation was the most elaborate — perhaps hinting that the killer used the other women to “test” uterus- removal techniques.

Coroner Wynne Baxter noted at the inquest of one of the victims attacked in this way: “The conclusion that the desire was to possess the missing (body) part seems overwhelming.”

Retired lawyer John, 68, claims Williams — 38 at the time of the killings — was driven to the mutilations because she was not able to have children herself. She had become “increasingly unstable” due to stress over her infertility, he says.

Newspaper reporting the death of last victim Mary Kelly

John, from Wicklow, Ireland, said: “She was, by all accounts, a very religious and kind person but no doubt struggled with her inability to produce children.

“To add insult to injury she was trapped in a loveless marriage and her husband was a known philanderer.

“I think she was concerned her husband would either go off with this woman and abandon her or have a baby with her because he was desperate for a child. I think she set out to murder her rival and get her out of the way.”

He also believes Williams hated prostitutes, associating them with the ability to become pregnant easily despite not “deserving” children.

John Morris believes all the evidence points to Jack the Ripper being a woman

John also discovered that the vast majority of similar murders were committed by women.

He said: “I wondered how many more of these vicious attacks had taken place worldwide between 1888 and the present day.

“I discovered that there have been 27 attacks on women where they have been sliced open with a variety of horrifying weapons and their wombs ripped from their bodies. In every single case, barring one, the attacks were carried out by women.”

Top tourist attraction London Dungeon is so taken with the theory that it is swapping its resident character Jack the Ripper, usually played by a male actor, with a “Jackie”, for the rest of this month.

Body of Ripper victim number two Annie Chapman was found near this barber shop

As well as Williams’ compelling motive, there are other clues that point to a woman being behind the crimes.

Three small buttons from a woman’s boot were found in blood near fourth victim Catherine Eddowes. And remnants of women’s clothing were found in the ashes of Mary Kelly’s fireplace which did not belong to the victim.

None of the Ripper’s victims were sexually assaulted and personal items left at the feet of second victim Annie Chapman were laid out in “a typically feminine manner” according to newspaper reports.

John developed his theory after reading 2005 Ripper book Uncle Jack, by Tony Williams — a descendant of Sir John who first made the claim the medic may have been the killer.

The Jack the Ripper murders took place in the East End of London

As well as being on call to look after Queen Victoria, Sir John ran an abortion clinic in Whitechapel, where the murders took place.

Researcher John said: “I’ve always been fascinated by Jack the Ripper, and my father and I often discussed the theory of Sir John being the killer. But there seemed to be too much evidence pointing to him being a great man.

“But his wife had picked up a great deal of the same knowledge. And she certainly had the motive.”

Williams was the daughter of Richard Hughes, a wealthy businessman in Swansea, where she was born in 1850.

John sifted through thousands of documents to build up his case against her, detailing them in his 2012 book Jack the Ripper: The Hand Of A Woman.

A newspaper reporting the murder of Jack the Ripper's second victim Annie Chapman

He said: “Because everyone believes the murderer was a man, all the evidence has been ignored.

“When we started our research we went right back to the primary sources. We got hold of the original autopsy reports, doctor’s reports, the coroner’s inquest reports, and we were staggered to find there was absolutely no evidence that a man had committed the murders at all.

“In fact, there was more evidence that a woman had been involved than a man.”

Soon after the grisly deaths, Williams suffered a nervous breakdown. She died of cancer in 1912.

The London Dungeons have changed their Jack to Jackie for the rest of the month in honour of the new theory

The London Dungeon’s resident Ripperologist, Richard Quincey, is intrigued by the theory.

He said: “The claim that the Ripper was a female is an interesting view, with evidence such as sightings of someone walking away from the murder scene in a victim’s clothes to support this. But it’s a theory that was never investigated.”

John is not the first person to suggest that the Ripper was a woman.

Frederick Abberline, the detective who led the investigation, thought it possible too.

Jack the Ripper scene where police discover a body of a victim

He discovered fifth victim, Mary Kelly, was “seen” by witnesses hours after she was killed. They assumed it was her because of her trademark maroon shawl. But a woman could have slipped into it.

This led Abberline to ponder aloud: “Do you think that it could be a case not of Jack the Ripper but Jill the Ripper?”

In 2006 an Australian scientist sensationally claimed DNA testing suggested the Ripper was female. Ian Findlay, a professor of molecular and forensic diagnostics now working at Central Queensland University, tested samples from taunting letters sent to police about the killings in October 1888, signed Jack the Ripper.

Hundreds of hoax letters were also sent, but the ones tested contained details only the murderer would have known.

Mary Pearcy was previously linked to the Jack the Ripper case

While a full DNA profile could not be drawn from the swabs taken from the back of a stamp and the gum used to seal the envelope, Mr Findlay concluded: “From what we could tell, it’s very possible the Ripper could be female.”

The only woman previously to have been linked with the case is Mary Pearcey. She killed her lover’s wife, Phoebe Hogg, and their baby girl in 1890 — and the bloodiness of the slaying triggered speculation she may have had something to do with the five earlier deaths.

Pearcey had invited the pair to tea at her house in North London — then cut their throats and dumped their bodies on a rubbish tip nearby.

When police searched Mary’s home they found the walls and ceilings were splattered with her victims’ blood.

She was hanged, aged 24, in December 1890 after being questioned by police over the Ripper killings.

Until the end, Mary proclaimed her innocence, chanting she had just been: “Killing mice, killing mice, killing mice.”

ANNIE CHAPMAN, 47, killed September 8, 1888: Widowed mum-of-three was found on the street at 5.30am with her intestines ripped out and placed on one of her shoulders. Her uterus was missing.

Elizabeth Stride was Jack the Ripper's third victim

ELIZABETH STRIDE, 44, killed September 30, 1888: Swedish-born farmer’s daughter who had been a prostitute on and off for more than 20 years. Throat was cut but unlike other victims there was no other mutilation.

Catherine Eddowes was Jack the Ripper's fourth victim

CATHERINE EDDOWES, 46, killed September 30, 1888: Wolverhampton-born mum of three whose body was found 45 minutes after Stride’s. Most of her uterus had been removed, along with a kidney.

Mary Jane Kelly was Jack the Ripper's last victim

MARY JANE KELLY, 25, killed November 9, 1888: Only victim killed indoors, she was found in her flat with entire abdomen carved out and the organs placed under her head and on the bedside table.

Re: Why Jack the Ripper could have been Lizzie Williams

Sep 1st, 2018

Gee, yet another hillary thread...

MHz

#3

Re: Why Jack the Ripper could have been Lizzie Williams

Sep 1st, 2018

I like the one where it was an insane Royal. If it was in the spring it was their version of what we call 'cabin fever' where you slowly poison yourself over the winter by using a wood fire that is not properly vented.

Danbones

#4

Re: Why Jack the Ripper could have been Lizzie Williams

Sep 1st, 2018

...not to mention the eating of all those beans!

gopher

#5

Re: Why Jack the Ripper could have been Lizzie Williams

Sep 13th, 2018

Interesting stuff. No surprise that once again the Crown was linked to these unhappy events which explains why no one was convicted for them.